David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to have faith that the Minister and Cabinet can get this done by the end of the life of this current government. I’d like to ask the Minister how she intends to accomplish this feat in 10 months. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Obviously there was much anticipation on her Minister’s statement from earlier today. I’d like to begin by asking the Minister, obviously she’s been getting a lot of questions about the advancement of this 2007 policy up until today and the decision that Cabinet has made to rescind that policy. I’d like to ask her, in going forward, how exactly is she going to engage Regular Members on any of the proposed changes and the implementation of those changes, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to speak today about supplementary health benefits. First off I would like to say thank you to the government. You’ve done the right thing by rescinding the 2007 Supplementary Health Benefits Policy.

Equality and fairness are principles that should build the foundation of any health benefit policy in the Northwest Territories. I’ll continue to work toward ensuring that any of these policies include these principles.

As much as I’m very happy to hear that Cabinet has decided to rescind the 2007 policy on supplementary health benefits, I’m left wondering...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 100-16(5), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2010-2011, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 100-16(5) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, when these appropriations are brought before the House, there is the opportunity for the Minister and for the government to defend those costs, but certainly they aren’t met with the same rigor that they would be met with through the business planning process and the main estimates process in the House under full light. They just appear here as one line item, and the government can try to defend it the best way they can, but it doesn’t lend itself to providing Members of this House the best opportunity to question the expenditures of this government.

While I’ve got the floor, Mr...

I thank the Minister for that. I think that would be very useful information and it would clear things up a little bit, because it does run across both the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure as well as the Social Programs committee. So if that information was to go to P and P, that would be great. Thank you.

When we were going through that housing initiative and putting 500 new units on the ground in communities around the Northwest Territories, land tenure was a big issue at the Housing Corporation and additional positions were needed to allow the construction of those new units in communities and a number of employees were added. I’m just wondering, maybe we need to see an HR plan now for the Housing Corporation as well, because those positions were there. I know some of them were term positions but… How is the Housing Corporation going to utilize the people that are there already with these new...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess it’s kind of ironic, I was talking about this yesterday and the decision to transfer the Social Housing Program over to ECE three years ago or four years ago resulted in them needing to hire I think it was 11 or 12 new staff positions at ECE. This is coming before Members of this House requesting the establishment of five new positions for the administration of the program with the Housing Corporation. That’s exactly where it belongs. It was with the Housing Corporation. But there’s been no corresponding human resource plan on the 11 positions and the $1.2...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the last two years, one of the criticisms that was levelled at the department was the fact that it was hard for information data, research to get into the hands of Members so we could make informed decisions. As this moves forward, maybe the Minister could comment on how sure she is that she has the ability inside of the Department of Health and Social Services to actually get the information that is relative, that’s relevant, that is going to be required for decisions to be made as we move this forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’m just wondering why sometimes it might take two years for the Minister and the Cabinet to realize it is a consensus government. It took two years of work by all Members of this House to turn this policy around. It took outrage by the public to get this policy turned around. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, it took two years.

I’d like to ask the Minister, maybe she could comment on that. Why did it take two years for the current Cabinet to make the right call on this policy? Thank you.